Changing Aging: The Zimmers

The Zimmers just make you feel good. While their singing is awesome, more interesting is their story below. In Minnesota and America, we have to get people out of isolation. AGING is about LIVING … . even at the very end of life.[youtube]S1ss_gzLTvM[/youtube]BY BOB RIPLEY, SUN MEDIA You might call it the rock of the ageless. Or Grand Funk.Either way, Zimmermania is spreading.The Zimmers, a band of 40 lonely old people have climbed, or perhaps shuffled, on to the British pop charts with their cover of The Who’s anthem, My Generation.The band takes their name from the Zimmer frame which is the British name for our walker. It was formed as part of a BBC documentary to show the isolation felt by many of the nation’s elderly.Alf, 90, sings lead vocals. The oldest member is 100-year-old Buster who still works as a plumber and is believed to be the oldest employee in Britain. Their combined age is over 3,000, slightly more than the Rolling Stones, stretching back to before Cleopatra and even Alexander the Great.Their video has been viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube.A few weeks ago Winnie, the 99-year-old, was mainly answering questions about what she wanted for supper in her senior’s home. Now it’s whether she’s covering Oasis’ Live Forever if there’s an album.‘Oh, I’m enjoying this very much’ twinkles Winnie, before shuffling past the scrum into the TV studios. What has propelled Winnie into the midst of a global frenzy is being a member of the Zimmers, perhaps the most extraordinary pop sensation around.Zimmermania may be a funny frenzy, but its genesis was serious. It began as a documentary exposing the marginalization of the elderly and in the process challenges our preconceptions.Phyllis Diller used to say you know you’re getting old when your back goes out more than you do. Old age is not, as the saying goes, for sissies. But ultimately what matters most is not the condition of your arteries but your attitudes.When Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, they got news the stork was on his way at last. The Bible says Sarah laughed. It may have been to keep from crying, but it was still laughter. And when the baby came they named him Laughter, which is what Isaac means in Hebrew, because no other name would do.When you’re old you can be who you are, say what you feel, do what you want and let the chips fall where they may. Like King Lear, you can ‘pray, and sing, and tell old tales and laugh at gilded butterflies.’ You can even record a hit single.Profits from sales of My Generation go to Age Concern, Britain’s largest charity for the elderly.Watching the video of the Zimmers is both poignant and hilarious. But there’s something magical about watching lead singer Alf deliver the line, ‘Hope I die before I get old.’Proving once again that you don’t grow old; you get old by not growing.